Deutsche Bank Championship: Seven Golfers Play Their Way Into BMW Championship

By Carl Conrad

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

In an individual sport such as golf, the only person responsible for what happens is the golfer – there are no teammates to hide behind. Thirty of the golfers in this week’s field will not be invited to the third leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs when the BMW Championship kicks off in two weeks. Only 70 of the 100 that teed it up this week will keep their playoff hopes alive. Seven of the players that started off the Deutsche Bank Championship on the wrong side of that number did enough to play their way into the BMW Championship.

Kevin Stadler turned in a stellar performance at TPC Boston this week, where he tied for fourth place. That finish moved him from 75th to 32nd in the standings. Brian Davis went from 80th to 49th thanks to his solo eight place finish. Ian Poulter tied for ninth and moved from 77th to 52nd. It would have been quite a shock of Poults didn’t find a way to play himself into the penultimate playoff event.

Marc Leishman jumped from 76th to 58th after his tie for 16th this week while Nicholas Thompson moved to 59th from 73rd with a tie for 22nd. Brendan Steele barely cracked the top 70 with a tie for 20th – he climbed from 89th to 69th this week. Ernie Els qualified for the BMW Championship on the number, as he moved from 91st to 70th in the standings after a tie for 20th in Boston.

It’s going to continue to be an uphill battle for several of the top 70 to qualify for the TOUR Championship, and the players mentioned above are no different. The final 15 to 20 spots are usually up in the air as some guys play their way in while others fall outside of the cut number. Only the top 30 in the rankings will qualify for the TOUR Championship, so it is going to take a strong effort for these guys to crack that number. As they showed this week, though, that is definitely possible.